


saccharine and morose

by demure_bastard



Category: Naruto
Genre: Dark, F/M, Modern AU, Multi, Reader-Insert, circus AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:49:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26786971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demure_bastard/pseuds/demure_bastard
Summary: Modern au,A mysterious circus is in town and tragedy strikes, y/n can't help but suspect they're responsible. They can't help but be enamoured by the girl.
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke/Reader, Uzumaki Naruto/Reader
Comments: 17
Kudos: 28





	1. odd encounters

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fic and holy shit i'm so nervous. I hope you enjoy! Just a heads up this story will get extremely dark and i might end up changing some tags later. Also the characters are slightly ooc and this is an au. :)
> 
> disclaimer; I dont own naruto, nor do I own you (unless...)

“Wheres my fucking grapes you whore!”

The young woman being yelled at sighed, softly running her hands over her crusted and torn shirt, flattening it. Her teeth sunk into the flesh of her cheek with such intensity she could taste blood. “I’m sorry sir,” She plastered a smile onto her face. “We ran out of grapes but we’ll have them back in stock next week, maybe come in then.” God, y/n hated her job.

The old man's eyes narrowed, his large, bristly eyebrows forced themselves into a frown. To y/n they looked like large caterpillars squirming down his face, his punchable irritating face. His puckered mouth contorted open and he roared something at y/n but she wasn't paying attention. Instead the young woman was distracted by the overwhelming smell of alcohol seeping from his mouth. Judging by his voice, which was harsh and far too loud for her ears, he was probably saying something threatening, maybe she should be paying attention. 

y/n tore her (e/c) eyes away from his mouth and refocused on the customer, perfectly timed for her to see him storm out the door, puffing and yelling the whole way. She should be angry, or scared, perhaps even upset at this grown man throwing a fit over grapes of all things. She knew this, and perhaps if she was younger she would be brim with emotions but now she just felt nothing other than the dull constant panging of boredom and irritation.

Her arms felt heavy at her side and her feet dragged across the wood floor boards as she mechanically carried out the routine of closing up the convenience shop. If it wasn’t her grandmother's shop y/n would’ve quit by now, she truly hated working there and being treated like shit by the customers. 

Each task felt as tedious as the next, she restocked knocked and misplaced items, swept and mopped the floors, sorted the cash and the cash register, and other meaningless tasks that consumed way too much of her time. Her stomach growled as soon as she finished her tasks and her fatigued eyes darted around the shop for something to eat. A burgundy cup of instant ramen noodles looked quite appealing for dinner and she grabbed a pack of chips to snack on.

It was dark now, the moon beamed high above and illuminated the small town in a palliative azure tint. At this time y/n thought the town looked truly beautiful, lit up in the moon's soft glow and not a soul in sight but her.

Jet black boots gingerly padded against the dirt ground as y/n ventured throughout town to reach her home. Her hands shoveled hordes of barbeque chips into her mouth, the loud crunch of the chips ruining the scenic environment. The young h/c’s eyes were half lidded and steadily closing as she drifted in and out of consciousness, she only had herself to blame for her exhaustion and blaming herself she was, mentally cursing at herself with each step she took.

Crack.

She let out a skittish yelp as her body completely froze and her breathing stopped. What the hell was that. E/c eyes anxiously darted around to find the source of the intense noise. Absolute emptiness entered her vision as she was scanning her surroundings, she couldn’t spot anyone else. Regardless of this discovery she still felt tense, almost like someone was watching her and she just wanted to get home as quickly as possible.

I’m just being paranoid…She reprimanded to herself yet she didn’t slow down. Her feet moved much quicker than before her boots harshly stomping against the ground as the young woman was almost sprinting. 

Crack

It's nothing. Y/n frantically recited to herself, demanding her thrashing heart to lull, yet she willed her feet to accelerate.

A hint of a smile crept onto her face as she came upon the edge of town, surrounded by woods. Nestled in the border between the town and the mass of trees was her house. A sense of relief washed over the young woman and she slumped over panting.

But before y/n could catch her breath something barrelled into her. It, heavy and towering, collided into her from behind pushing her off her feet. A shriek died in her throat as the impact from the thing knocked the air from her lungs and her chips and ramen from her grasp. The ground was approaching her fast and out of instinct and desperation to prevent damage being caused to herself, the woman flung her arms out. 

Her self preservation attempts were fruitless, indicated by the sharp crunch of her right arm hitting the ground and the thud of her body sprawling across the ground with the thing that attacked her collapsing on top.

It was warm. That was the first thing she noticed as she felt the thing pressed flush against her. Not a comforting gentle warmth you would crave on a frigid winter night but instead a sweltering heat that clings to you on a scorching summer's day. It was human as well, she was pretty sure, judging by its human legs tangled with hers and its human arms propped on her back pushing itself up. 

Terror permeated throughout her entire being and y/n was panicking, everything had happened so fast and she had no idea what to do. Her nerves increased as her mind managed to convince itself that the attacker just absolutely had to be a creepy old man holding a knife. Desperate, terrified and convinced she was going to be slaughtered by a geriatric, y/n threw a clenched fist as she whipped her entire body around to face the intruder; punch them then run, punch them then run, pu- 

He caught her punch with ease. She let out a squawk of shock and raked her eyes over him, properly examining him. He was young (not a creepy old man with a knife, sweet), she realised, around her age and he had a mop of spiky lemon tinted hair. His features were delicate looking, with round cerulean eyes and a baby face. y/n’s eyes stopped at his cheeks, which had whisker-like markings on each side. He wasn’t massively tall or strong looking but he was certainly taller and stronger than her, and quite oddly he had a friendly look on his face. But what was the most odd thing to y/n is that she’d never seen him before in her life. 

In this small town everyone knew of everyone and she was no exception, so the fact his face didn’t bring about any sense of resemblance truly baffled her. Who was this stranger, and why was he chasing her, he certainly didn’t look threatening but he knocked her over, more questions entered her mind, distracting her from his curious eyes staring down.

“Are you alright,” Y/n gazed up as a foreign voice entered her ears. “You were running, is everything ok?” He asked, innocently tilting his head. Her mouth gaped open in disbelief. Did he, the person chasing her, actually ask that. y/n glared up at him, he was straddling her and she had to tilt her head upwards to meet his eyes. Nothing but sincerity shone in his soft blue eyes.

“No everythings not alright! You were chasing me you fucking creep.” she snapped. He looked taken aback.

“I was only chasing you because you were running! I was worried you were in trouble!” he earnestly informed her.

His reasoning failed to register to her, only angering the woman further. “I only started running because I heard you.” Her brows furrowed in frustration.

“Oh,” He sheepishly grinned, raising one of his arms to scratch the back of his head. “I just wanted to ask you where you got your ramen from.”

Oh. 

She laughed. The ridiculousness of the situation was setting in now her fear had departed. The young man, she probably should find out his name, started chuckling too.

After a short while of the two sniggering together they both stood up, y/n collecting her ramen and the rest of her chips. The young woman stared at him again, she almost wanted to ask the blond stranger all the questions floating in her head, almost. But, her head raised to look at the night sky, she simply didn’t care, she was much too tired. “From my grandmother's convenience shop.” She spoke, not bothering to face him. 

Instead she walked off back to her home. She wasn’t disturbed for the rest of her journey.

When she finally reached home she collapsed into her bed, ignoring the now painful stinging of her right wrist and drifted off into blissful slumber.

-

Y/n peeled her eyes open. The sun gleamed brightly from its perch high in the sky, indicating the late afternoon and the day she wasted sleeping. Her limbs raised and stretched before letting off a satisfying pop and y/n let out a hum of satisfaction. 

Her wrist stung, it was red and swollen. y/n tenderly ran her fingers over the swollen appendage in soothing motions as her mind wandered back to last night. The boy or young man, either term worked, had been so strange and suspicious. Why was he just walking around at night, and who was he, why had she never seen him before, why did he not simply ask her about the ramen instead of chase her, how did he not know about the convenience store, it was one of only two in the whole town. The blondes intentions seemed innocent enough yet nothing about him made sense; it was all suspicious.

Y/n compelled herself to stop contemplating over the events of last night, the girl knew she would be stuck pondering over it for the rest of the day. Instead she dragged herself to get ready for the day (or what was left of it). A loose button down shirt and bell bottom jeans were pulled on idly. Hands ran a hairbrush roughly through her h/c hair as her eyes wandered around her room. Her room was meagre in size, cramped to fit her simple furniture. It was also bare in decorations, with the exception of a small painting. The painting had a basic wooden frame and within the frame was a vase on a black background. The vase was simple looking enough, a cream white with a red symbol in the middle of it. 

Once she finished brushing her hair she approached the painting to softly run her fingers over its textured surface, she thought of her mum, a complete stranger who’d abandoned her and her dad when y/n was born. The only thing she left behind had been that painting. Once again y/n began to get lost in thought, mind churning and reminiscing over a woman who she never met.

A harsh banging on the door ripped her from her thoughts. y/n stumbled downstairs and ripped open the door to reveal her best friend tenten. Her friend gave her a wide smile and shoved something in her face.

“Hi to you too ten-ten.” y/n grumbled, leaning back to properly observe whatever the hell tenten shoved in her face. ‘The Hidden circus’ was scrolled across the poster in large black letters as well as other decorative graphics. y/n wrinkled her nose in confusion. “What the hell is ‘The Hidden circus’?”

“Its a circus dumbass,” Tenten pouted. “I can’t believe a circus came here, nothing ever comes here. We have to see it!”

y/n couldn’t believe it either, truly nothing ever came to their dull town. “I didn’t even notice the posters yesterday.” she murmured, quite embarrassed at her obliviousness.

“They weren’t there yesterday, someone must’ve put them around town last night.” tenten informed her. Y/ns thoughts went back to the blond last night and everything seemed to click. 

“What happened,” tenten asked in a teasing tone. “You’re making that face you always make when you figure something out. You know the constipated looking on-OWW!” she yelped as y/n pinched her arm. Y/ns face softened into a more pensive expression as she recounted the events of last night to her friend.

Tenten listened, engrossed in the details as her friend finished the recount and looked at her expectantly, waiting for the bun headed girl to say something. “That makes sense,” Tenten concluded, agreeing with y/ns conclusion of the boy being from the circus and being responsible for hanging the posters. “It also makes even more sense he was from the circus ‘cause he sounds really weird.”

y/n nodded in agreement. “When’s the circus performing anyways?” She inquired.

“Well,” Tenten shifted to reread the poster she had stolen. “Their first performance is tonight, wanna go together?” y/n nodded instantly. A rush of excitement hit her, she’d never seen a circus before only ever seen them from books and movies. She scrunched her nose as she tried to picture what the event would be like, she imagined blooms of gaudy colours everywhere she turned, delicious sweet foods, acrobats in obnoxious leotards throwing themselves across the ceiling as the audience would provide thunderous applause, foreign and exotic animals prancing around the stage, clowns- actually she was kinda creeped out by clowns. 

Her attention turned back to her friend to invite her in, tenten gladly accepted bringing her stolen poster inside with her and the two young women chatted the rest of the day away.


	2. A night to remember

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mmmmm not sure if i like this chap tbh, oh well pls enjoy ;)
> 
> CONTENT WARNING: death, descriptions of gore

e/c eyes fluttered in awe. The previous unimpressive and empty field now held the circus on top of it. Bright bulbs of light strung along together illuminating the grounds. The grounds were littered with various carnival games and stands. y/n passed by a throwing darts carnival game. It was lined with brightly coloured and cheap looking plush toys. The few things she knew of the circus was that games like those were rigged. The vendor was an old withered man, surely ready to cheat people out of a couple of bucks, she smiled at him when he noticed her staring at him. He just stared back. Her eyes glanced around the bustling crowd, they all seemed as memorised by the grand display as she was. 

y/n felt her mouth water as she caught sight of the food stands. She eagerly approached the stalls, pushing her feet into a brisk walk to dodge the bustling crowds. She came up to the fairy floss stall, it was humble in size and equipped with a striking variety of mason jars packed with pastel sugars sitting on the front of the counter. “One please.” She politely requested from the vendor, handing him money. The vendor, she realised as she handed him the cash and properly focused her attention on him rather than the fairy floss, was eerie in appearance. 

At surface glance he looked unremarkable, in his early thirties with neatly combed hair and a clean uniform but his hazel eyes looked lifeless. Glazed over in a dull tint and looking straight through her. His hands and neck were marred in deep painful scars and y/n was sure if he wore a less modest uniform she would see evidence of more. It seemed painful for him to twist and crack his mouth into a smile as he presented her with quite a strained one when he took the cash from her. “What colour would you like Miss?” His voice sounded wooden, the inflections forced into his voice attempted to alleviate this stiffness yet y/n saw right through it.

“Purple please.” she spoke politely, making sure she didn’t meet his eyes; they creeped her out. Instead she eagerly observed as his scarred hands rolled a paper cup along the machine, wisps of sweet violet entangling and clumping to form a cloud. Once finished he held the fairy floss for her to take, which she gladly did. Her wary eyes looked back at the man once more before she turned and continued on her way.

A deep pang hit her stomach as she focused on the fairy floss, It was quite impressive in size. She unhinged her jaw as far as she could and began chomping on the sugary treat as she continued walking, taking in the scenery and half heartedly looking for tenten, who had separated from her the minute they stepped onto the grounds. 

Y/n had made her way to a quiet part of the grounds, no one was nearby that she could tell and she stopped to soothe the aching that had begun to build in her legs. The mild syrupy taste of the confection filled her mouth with each bite and she was no longer politely chomping on the food, instead wolfing it down quite messily.

e/c eyes met black. y/n froze mid bite, fairy floss smeared across her face. An unfamiliar young man seemingly emerged from the shadows and was looking at her. They both stared at each other, eyes locked as y/n gawked at him in sheer embarrassment, face blooming beet. The young man indicated little expression, he just stared at her in uncaring indifference before turning going on his way. ‘God, that was so embarrassing.’ y/n thought wiping the purple food off her face and walking back into the crowd. 

The universe, seemingly determined to further embarrass y/n, willed a rowdy group of preteen boys to crash into her. The snacks and drinks they were holding tumbled onto her, the cold sticky drinks coating her top. y/n let out a sharp gasp before whipping her head up to the boys. A mix between mortified and desperately trying not to laugh were painted on their faces. “Sorry miss.” One of them stuttered before they quickly scrambled away. People were staring at y/n now, she could feel it. She hated it, and self consciousness welled up in her.

Her head was fixed to the ground as she scurried off, her inner cheek clenched in her teeth. She didn’t care what anyone thought of her, she told herself (what she always told herself) yet she rushed to the bathrooms to try and wash the brown drink stain out of one of her favourite shirts. When she came up to the bathrooms (which were cheap plastic porta potties) her teeth clenched tighter on her cheeks as soon as she saw how long the lines were. y/n released a thin sigh before lining up. There were at least 2 dozen girls in front of her. 

Y/n swiftly learnt that the brunette in front of her was the most annoying person she’d ever heard. She didn’t seem to shut up, y/n wasn’t usually one to judge about that, glass houses after all, but she was just yapping on the phone to her boyfriend(?) the entire wait, which y/n was pretty sure she’d been in line for 20 minutes. It also didn’t help that her voice was grating and shrill, triggering y/ns fight or flight instinct everytime her voice invaded y/ns ears. 

The excitement y/n had previously had for the event tonight was certainly starting to dim. The line still hadn’t moved and the girl was sticky, cold and about to snap at the girl in front of her.

“Y/n!” Tenten greeted the girl, an array of plush toys clutched in her arms. “It’s going to start soon, let's head to our seats.” 

“I can’t.” Y/n indicated to her shirt. Tenten examined the stain with a thoughtful look pulled onto her face. The brunette then proceeded to remove the pale pink hoodie from her waist (carefully, as to not drop the plushies) then shoved it into y/ns arms.

“Here put this on to cover the stain, now c’mon let's go.” Tenten eagerly pushed the girl out of the lines while y/n was tugging and zipping the pink hoodie up. Excitement was starting to buzz throughout y/n once more as her and tenten approached the circus tent.

It was the largest thing y/n had ever seen, easily taking up half of the massive field and viewable from town. She gazed up in awe, almost slack mouthed. It was cream and crimson striped, its fabric softly flowing from the gentle nudge of the wind. It was truly beautiful and y/ns feet came to a halt just so she could properly admire it, her eyes fully soaking it in. “Y/n come on!” tenten yelled from further down and y/n jogged after her.

The interior was just as breathtaking as the exterior, the seating was shaped as a semi circle encompassing a massive mostly bare set. Y/n and tenten found their seats in one of the many levels of chairs. 

Tenten at one point pulled out hotdogs (where was she hiding them?) and the two girls began eating and chatting while people began to drift in and fill the seats. A shrill voice entered the girls ears and y/n spotted the annoying chatty girl from earlier, still on her phone. The irritating brunette was clothed head to toe in baby blue, a baby blue headband, a baby blue choker wrapped around her neck, a baby blue cardigan and baby blue tights under a baby blue skirt. y/n frowned at the girls neon orange shoes, which completely ruined the quite nice outfit and frowned even further when the girl stepped over them and plopped down in the seat right next to y/ns left. ‘God, kill me’. Eventually the last stragglers filled their seats and the lights dimmed. 

The audience fell into silence as a spotlight hit down, illuminating a figure. White spiky hair and a top hat adorned a mysterious figure, his face painted red, he must’ve been the ringmaster. “Welcome ladies and gentleman,” the ringmaster bellowed. “We’ve got a lovely performance for you all tonight. So hope you enjoy” he winked. Then smoke appeared where he once was, it spread and filled the entire tent. 

y/n squinted her eyes, unable to make anything out through the thick smoke, tenten started coughing next to her.

The thick smoke thinned out and a purple haired woman stood alone in the centre. She wore a black and red oversized cloak that engulfed her slight figure. The entire audience, including y/n seemed to collectively hold their breaths, anticipating the purple haired woman's next action. 

She spread her hands out next to her body, her movements so deliberate and delicate. Parts of her body seemingly turned to paper and peeled away from her. Y/n watched in bewilderment as the floating paper molded and changed to form large origami animals. “Holy shit.” tenten softly whispered next to her.

Oohs and aahs rumbled throughout the audience as the origami animals paraded throughout the arena. Origami dolphins swam in the air and splashed about rolling and tumbling, inducing giggles and delighted squeals from the children in the audience. Origami elephants stomped and charged as well as so many other gorgeous exotic origami animals. An origami swan floated up near y/n and perched itself on her lap. y/n gawked at it, it looked so alive. She gently pet the smooth paper. 

She wasn’t sure how long the performance went on for but the swan she was petting and the rest of the animals slowly started to unfold from their shaped forms and encased themselves back onto the purple haired performer, making her whole again. 

y/n slightly pouted at the disappearance of the swan. The pout was quickly wiped off her face when a petite pink haired figure entered. “Ladies and gentleman,” the ringmaster boomed. “Meet the pink haired wonder herself, Sakura Haruno! Be careful though boys, the only thing scarier than her temper is her brute strength.” 

Brute strength? y/n scoffed, the girl was tiny, she'd never seen such a petite person, y/n was pretty sure her wrists were broader than sakura's shoulders. 

The pink haired performer stepped before a pillar of concrete, y/n didn’t even notice the cement tower till now. Sakura took a visibly deep breath before sinking her fist into the pillar. 

The pillar erupted into pieces from the force of the performer's punch, scattering and spraying dust as well as cement. The entire arena shook, the low rumble being felt throughout the collective audience and y/n clutched the seat in front of her for support as she felt herself be lightly swayed around in her chair. The first row of seats quickly rushed to shield themselves from the small cement pieces. The pink haired girl seemed quite satisfied as she proudly examined the destruction she caused, petite hands sitting on her hips.

y/ns mouth hung open in shock, although it was hastily shut once she tasted cement dust. ‘How the hell did she do that?’ the cement was completely destroyed, how did they pull off this illusion? Maybe it wasn’t real cement (even though it looked eerily real.) 

“Excuse me,” y/n looked up, the irritating brunette was back on her phone and climbing over her and tenten to the exit. y/n pressed herself as far back as she could, the cool plastic seat digging into her back and sides and she tucked her legs up to herself. e/c eyes followed the baby blue figure until she wandered out the exit, yapping until she was out of sight. y/ns eyes fixed back to the performance. 

Sakura performed more impressive feats of strength, y/n was mesmerized the entire time, the inner skeptic in her analysing and searching for proof of the illusion. Little of which proof she found. She sunk dejectedly into her seat in a slump.

Once she finished her last amazing feat of strength sakura turned to the audience and gave a deep bow before smoke sprung and billowed once again. y/n joined the audience with cheers and claps. 

A familiar lemon haired figure emerged from the smoke. “Thats him!” y/n hissed at tenten, harshly jabbing the girl with her fingers. Tenten didn’t reply, instead choosing to intensely stare at the blond figure.

The ringmaster didn’t give an introductory quip for the blond, perhaps his performance spoke for itself? y/n quickly realised it absolutely did as the blond burst into 20 copies of himself. 

“Holy shit!” she yelped. A family turned round to glare at her, she ignored them. The blonds climbed on top of each other's shoulders, forming a human tower. 

The human tower slowly tilting and tipping, almost falling over but not quite. ‘Now how the fuck did he do that!’ y/n was stunned, she kneaded and scraped at her eyes before looking back at the act in front of her in disbelief. 

Sure she could believe the origami creatures were a combination of animatronics and prosthetics, and sure she could possibly believe sakura's immense strength was a result of fake props being used but y/n couldn’t possibly string together an explanation as to how the performer in front of her had spawned clones of himself from thin air. This was just the beginning of the circus too, y/n had many more performances to look forward to. A mixture of excitement and dread pitted and rooted itself into her stomach. 

Her back pocket started buzzing. y/n checked her phone, the screen lit up with the words ‘Grandma’. y/n felt reluctant to leave, yet she knew she would be getting an earful later if she didn’t. She flashed her phone to tenten, who pulled a sympathetic look on her face and then stepped out of the tent to answer it. 

The fields were completely empty, not even vendors were around, everyone was in the tent enthralled by the performance, everyone except y/n. y/n paced around the fields as she listened to her grandmother's rambles, the old woman kept talking about nothing, really not caring y/n was busy at an event. The soft crunching of her feet meeting the ground was far more pleasant to the ears than her grandmother's grating voice. 

Frustration gurgled inside y/n and her finger hovered over the tempting end call button. An irritating buzzing sound caught her attention, it was sharp and reverberated throughout the empty fields, her grandmother's voice became background noise. She wandered closer to the edge of the field bordering the forest, each step leading her to the intrusive noise. The sharp buzzing noise vibrated like a siren's call throughout her ears, filling her head with its alluring melody. Whether it was curiosity or desperation to escape her grandmother that spun and warped the mundane tune into a hymn was anyone's guess.

At last her feet settled in front of the source of the buzzing noise, it was a phone. She hung up on her grandmother (she’ll worry about the consequences later) and shoved her phone into her back pocket. The phone lying on the ground flashed and buzzed and screamed at y/n, flashing some name y/n didn’t bother reading on the screen. It was cracked and shattered and speckles of red smeared the screen. Her eyes tilted up, further examining the scene. 

The surrounding floor was ground up and damp, stark against the pale dry field. The scent of something metallic teased her senses, faint enough to not provoke her to dash away, but just enough to raise the hairs on her arms. Marred ground dragged slightly into the forest, taunting her to follow the darkened trail.

y/ns lip trembled. Her instincts begged for her to run, to run and call the police and stay safe and stay away from danger. Yet something horribly incessant pressed at her, whispering for her to wander deep into the forest. 

Her paranoia and interest refused to be satiated and with a trembling step she ventured into the forest. Gangly branches stretched and grazed against y/ns form and the darkness and howling wind provided her little comfort. Leaves and sticks softly crunched and cracked under the pressure of her foot, each slight noise putting her more on edge. She snaked her arms firmly against herself in a fruitless attempt to provide a sliver of warmth to her frigid bones. Her fingers skimmed across the fresh scratches and cuts, feeling the heat radiating from the irritated skin. 

Abruptly the subtle trail stopped, nothing. y/n frantically whipped her head around, both dreading and hoping to find something. Distantly she could hear the tent, full of laughter and cheering. ‘Why am I even here, i’m so fucking stupid.’ she bitterly cursed at herself, turning around and ready to walk back to the circus.

A neon orange sneaker peeked out behind a tree, beaming out to her in the twilight. “Oh God.” the only thing her stunned mind could form and the words stumbled out softly. Her curiosity was cold and dead and her feet frozen. She knew she had to walk over there and face what was waiting for her, but god she didn’t want to. Her feet were the heaviest things in the world as she dragged them towards the neon orange sneakers. 

Glazed eyes bore into nothingness. The brunette's eyes were the only distinguishable trait from her face, the rest was a bloody pulp. Baby blue eyes glimmered in the dark blue night, black pupils dilated. She had been crying, y/n realised as she saw the streak of tears leaking from glassy eyes. Her nose and cheeks were sloppily detached, leaving nothing but porcelain bone and teeth. 

Blood soaked and clung to the dead woman embracing her in its insidious warmth. Y/n never realized how thick and gelatinous blood truly was, she’d expected the blood to move like water paint, flow down and pool around the corpse like a halo. Her chest and legs were painted in deep slash marks, digging chunks of flesh out and further exposing bone and muscles. y/n puked. 

Even after she had emptied the contents of her stomach she continued to dry heave. The burning nausea nestled in her stomach didn’t leave and her ears started ringing. Her mind was refusing to comprehend the body before her, her ears were ringing louder and louder and she was certain her head was going to implode. y/n grasped her head and cursed herself to calm down.

She forced herself to focus back on the body, swallowing down the panic burning in her. Briefly y/n thought perhaps the culprit responsible for the massacre was an animal, a bear or wolf perhaps, the slashing and missing chunks of flesh fit. The idea was quickly shot down however when she spotted the hilt of a weapon buried in the lifeless brunette's chest.

She crouched down to further inspect the weapon, the stench of blood was overwhelming, it made her ears ring louder and she was far too close to the corpse than she would like to be. Her hand reached out to touch the weapon before her mind could realise what it was doing. The exact weapon wasn’t obvious due to the blade being stuck deep within flesh but it was most likely a knife type of weapon, a dagger or knife perhaps. The hilt was gorgeous, it was a sterling silver with intricate designs carved along the sides of it, it seemed expensive and old. As soon as her fingers grasped the hilt y/n flinched. 

Rather than the cold metal she was expecting to touch, the metal was warm, too warm. It was warm as if it was still holding onto the body heat of a person who was using it very recently. 

y/n leapt to her feet, she frantically whipped her head around. ‘Oh God, the killer has to be nearby.’ The realization sent chills down her spine. Her feet hit the ground and she sprinted, never daring to look back.


	3. bro i fucking hate running

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y/n can not catch a break oof. 
> 
> friendly reminder i literally own nothing about this, neither you or the naruto franchise.
> 
> cw; light mentions of death and kinda gore not really but idk just to be safe

Where do our souls go once we pass? This, of course, is assuming we possess souls and we aren’t simply a sack of meat and flesh destined to decompose. Perhaps we simply cease to exist, just as we did before were conceived; blissful nothingness. Or maybe theology is right, our souls are judged and condemned for eternity, an oddly claustrophobic thought. Perhaps even worse, we’re destined to wander on earth, forever lost, forever discontent, forever alone. Whatever happens to our souls once we die y/n just hoped the woman in baby blue’s was resting.

Each crack of y/n’s shoes colliding with the forest floor struck her heart with burning fear. Paranoia made it impossible for her to tell if the echoes were coming from her shoes or someone else. Beads of sweat were swimming off her face, each hurried stride forward stretched and ripped her leg muscles; she wasn’t sure she could run for much longer but the poor girl was only half way out. 

Her body violently shook, the cold and panic bled together and y/n entwined her arms around her form in a futile attempt to comfort herself. How fucking stupid was she, why did she have to go into the fucking forest maybe she should have gone to the police like a normal fucking person. Fury and frustration bubbled and nibbled away at her insides and burning tears pooled in her eyes.

Like a rabbit in a forest of unseen foxes she ran blindly, pure instinct alone leading her throughout the forest, weaving away from either her paranoia or a killer. Her mind kept wandering back to the woman in baby blue. The blanched flesh and muscle tissue hacked and torn from her face and the pungent stench of her blood, it all infested her mind. 

The feeling of claustrophobia loomed around her, the jagged trees encircled and tightened around her, thousands of branches reaching out to grasp the girl fleeing from the woods. Another tree branch slashed at her, shallowly carving a crimson line along y/ns tear ridden cheek. She flinched from the contact, feeling the warm liquid trickle down the side of her face. 

Tragically, dear y/n failed to notice her foot slip under the root of the tree, and for the second time in two days she was sent tumbling into the ground. 

_**‘Crack’** _

y/ns head smashed into the ground. Weary bones rattled from the brutal impact of the fall, mud grabbed and clung onto her, blending with the fresh blood already staining her. ‘That didn’t sound too good.’ y/n remembered thinking before the forest went black and her fatigued figure slumped against the ground.

* * *

A figure was sitting on an old long tree. scratch that, a creature was standing sideways on the trunk of an old long tree. It was held up by a seemingly invisible entity that disregarded the concept of gravity, firmly pressing the figure sideways to the tree. The figure dangled in the air stiffly, illuminated by the deep black of the night. 

Her eyelids were so heavy, and her body ached so deeply; all y/n desired was to close her eyes and ignore the demonic figure staring at her. Perhaps if she didn’t move it would get bored and leave ~~or maybe it’ll kill her quickly; a generous mercy~~. The atmosphere was dreamy, the soft blue hue from the moon and the distant noises from the circus tent reverberated white noise within y/ns hazy head. The creature continued to stare at her, unmoving, its features were indistinguishable in the dark. 

‘You’re seeing things,’ y/n scolded herself, yet she was still shaking. ‘It's dark and you hit your head and your delusional, there's nothing ther-’.

The beast started to prowl down the side of the tree. Its movements were animalistic but it appeared so human. It seemed to have all the right parts; human arms, slender human torso connected to long human legs, you get it. The roaming figure could have passed for a mundane human except for its eyes. 

Its stertorous gaze burned crimson red. It glowed in the dark of the night, casting a subtle blood red glow throughout the forest. y/n had never seen eyes quite like it before, she’d be amazed if she wasn’t so terrified. Its long legs hit the ground, ceasing to make a sound. Red met _(eye colour)_ , tension built like a 12 year old boy with star wars legos as the two stared at each other.

The light of the moon caught the blade tightly clutched in its hand, the glare from the weapon reflecting in the peripheral view of _(eye colour)_ eyes. It started to stalk closer, its cardinal gaze continued the vexing eyecontact shared between them. A muffled voice in the back of her head begged her to run. Y/n couldn’t look away, she couldn’t run, She couldn’t do anything; her lungs tightened in panic and refused the cold forest air, the incessant ringing in her ears amplified and she couldn’t even hear now.

The creature stood directly over her trembling form now, strong legs planted either side of her mud covered torso. y/n squinted, she still couldn’t make out any of its features bathed in shadows. It didn’t utter a word, neither did y/n. The only sounds filling the ominous silence were y/ns soft pants for air. 

For the briefest second the creature's grip on its weapon tightened. A whimper burst from y/ns throat as she shoved her head into the ground, the freezing mud pressed against her cheek, she squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath, waiting for her death. 

It never came.

As the creature turned around to leave y/n slumped over unconscious again.

* * *

Pain. Holy shit was she in pain. That was the first thing y/n noticed when she finally breached into consciousness again. y/n let out a soft groan as she shifted around, feeling the ache of her muscles and tenderly clutching her throbbing head. 

The dark sky hovered above her and faroff muffled sounds told y/n that it was still night, she mustn’t have been out for too long. Her memories were blurry, the grip on her head grew tighter as she tried to unblur the vague images in her head. Her mind could piece together fragmented pieces, she remembered running and then tripping and then…

**_The killer!_** Memories of him flooded her head. He was gone, went in the direction of the town he could be anywhere now. Prowling around and waiting to pick off another wandering person and rip them to bloody chunks.

y/n stared at her hands, the blood and mud that caked them were dry now, flaking off and crumbling to small pieces in her palms. The creature hadn’t killed her,  _ why?  _ She was injured and alone. It would've been easy to hack and slash at her until she was just a bloody corpse, just like… 

Y/n slammed her fists into the ground, instantly regretting it as the cold mud splashed her. She didn’t have time to ponder and mull over the situation she was thrust into, she needed to go to the police station before anyone else ended up like the woman in baby blue. Aching legs propelled herself up and with a shaky step she began to sprint.

Each step felt like a knife sinking into the heels of her feet, the stabbing grew violent as she neared the entrance onto the fairgrounds. The earlier blow she dealt to the head was back with vengeance, a searing pain pulsated throughout her entire head, stars and black spots frolicked in her vision. The additional trickling warmth dancing down her scalp told y/n she probably had a concussion.

* * *

At last she entered the fairgrounds, a gasp of breath left her and she sank to her knees in relief, a trembling hand clutching her heaving chest. It was still completely empty, the shadows and cheers coming from the tent relieved her pounding heart.

Y/n inhaled deeply, enjoying the delicious smell of hot food, a very welcomed change to the metallic stench of blood. Her eyes rapidly glanced around the area, satisfied at the absence of the red eyed killer. 

“You have to be fucking kidding me.”

Standing in the middle of the grounds was the blond haired boy. Positioned in front of one of the many game stands he moved in a torpid state, sluggishly and reluctantly picking up empty drink and popcorn containers, his face pulled in a scowl. “I can’t believe I'm stuck hanging up the posters again,” he huffed to himself, lips pulled in a pout. 

He had been performing when the woman in baby blue left and was killed, y/n recalled him duplicating himself and doing acrobatics with his clones, so he couldn’t be the killer, but he was a sitting duck. Her eyes widened, she let out a frustrated groan and she took off running, ignoring her aching legs, fuck she wont be able to walk tomorrow.

Feebly she cupped her hands around her mouth, fuck what was his name again, she thought, Na..Naruto? “Naruto!” y/n shrieked, the brittle and croaky chime of her voice made her cringe. 

Naruto turned away from his posters, confused. She must have looked horrific y/n realised as his face dropped at the sight of her and his body turned rigid. 

The adrenaline wore out, the pain and exhaustion became too much and y/ns legs finally gave up and collapsed on her. Warm arms wrapped around her waist tugging her upper body tight against a warm chest. 

“Thanks.” y/n softly mumbled, shutting her eyes tightly. Taking just a second to gather herself and thoughts before she was ready to talk to Naruto.


	4. 4; Daisies for the grave

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've realised all my chaps are kinda short,,shoutout to people who can write so many words, my pea brain wishes. enjoy ;))
> 
> content warning; descriptions of gore kinda and mentions of death

y/n rambled to Naruto, each panicked word stumbled and stuttered out of her mouth at light speed. Even she couldn’t understand what she was trying to say. ‘Body’ ‘woods’ ‘police’; Naruto's brows furrowed in confusion and his firm grip on her tightened . “Woah, woah slow down. What happened?”

Trembling hands pressed against Naruto's bright orange tracksuit, the sickly neon colour seemed all too familiar and made her want to puke. “Somebody's been murdered in the woods, the killer’s still here,” she spoke slowly and deliberately, carefully enunciating each word. “We need to go to the police now.”

Nothing more needed to be said, Naruto shot up and ran from the circus grounds to the police station, y/n slumped across his back. Usually being so close to a stranger, let alone perched on top of them like a child would make y/n extremely uncomfortable. But she could make an exception just this once, albeit not without positioning herself in the most stiff and awkward position possible. Neither spoke, y/n contemplated saying something stupid or light-hearted to try and relieve the tension but thought better, it was a miracle he had trusted her, if it was the other way around y/n definitely would’ve thought Naruto was the killer (maybe she  should work on being more trusting). Instead her teeth stayed clenched and she allowed herself to be immersed in the bitter unease of the chilling night air. 

The two arrived much quicker than y/n had assumed they would, she had expected the trip to the police station to drag on, for the hairs on the back of her neck to be raised as she felt blood red eyes leering at them like a predator staring at its next meal. Instead her attention was focused on the fact that Naruto was running far quicker than any normal human should. 

The surroundings were imperceptible, blurred and smudged to y/ns narrowed eyes as Naruto rapidly sprinted. Wind lashed at y/n, spraying her hair into knots and tumbling against her chest with a force she had never felt before, far stronger than when she would speed in her grandmother's shit car with the windows down. His performance earlier replayed in her mind; obviously it was fake no one can physically summon clones, but y/n thought no one could be able to run this quickly either. She wrapped her arms around his neck to keep balance. An inaudible sigh parted from her lips, this was truly the least of her concerns right now but damn she could not catch a break. 

* * *

The tense pulling of the strings that were keeping her deteriorating psyche together finally loosened and released the instance she pushed open the glass doors of the police station. All the pressure and stress and fear she had been pushing back that night had released, and as soon the poor rookie cop, who was stuck at the front desk while everyone else was having fun at the circus, approached her she started bawling like a baby.

Y/n hadn’t cried like this since she was 9, she really hadn’t. Her face, flushed and sweaty, was scrunched up in the ugliest way possible, snot leaked from her nose as well as salty tears. She just couldn’t cease the loud childish sobs she was emitting, each involuntary wail burned at what little remained of her ego. God this was so humiliating, she thought, bawling in front of two strangers, she’ll definitely be replaying this miniscule event over and over again in her head for hours when she gets home.

The rookie visibly panicked, obviously not sure what to do and frantically tried calming her down; which made her sob even louder. “Ma’am wh-what happened?” He stuttered out.

A warm hand reached out and pet y/ns back, rubbing soft circles in an attempt to calm her down. She met Naruto's cobalt blue eyes, he gave her a bright smile, earnestness and sincerity radiating off of him in obnoxious waves. Just when she thought her pride couldn’t be further damaged, Naruto was looking at her like a preschool teacher would at a toddler crying; so horribly patronizing and full of pity, she could tell. It was the same look she always gets on mothers day or Christmas, the bitter reminder that the whole small town pitied her because her mother left. The sincere gesture failed to comfort y/n. Luckily it did irritate her enough to snap her out of her outburst, she shrugged his hand off her back and turned to the officer. 

* * *

And now here she was, staring at the ground enveloped in a scratchy blanket. Y/n wrapped it tighter around herself, trying to squeeze any extra warmth the flimsy material could provide. The police dogs found the body immediately, and the circus was evacuated. Vaguely she wondered where Tenten was, she must be worried, hopefully she didn't think y/n was the body in the woods. 

An abundance of officers had scrambled in and out of the station, hauling canines and specialised equipment and barking orders at each other. Y/n had vividly described everything about the killer she could to whatever officer would listen, from the glowing cardinal eyes to the walking vertically along the tree. Of course the officers all looked at her like she was crazy but they humoured her at least by promising to search for someone fitting that description. 

Y/n softly sniffled, her eyes felt swollen and her throat tender. She had been sitting in the station for hours while everyone moved around her, completely ignoring her other than the occasional sympathetic smile or quick offer to give her a hot beverage; which she would quickly shoot down, y/n wanted to sleep as soon as she got home, she didn’t need caffeine to drag this shitshow on for any longer.

“Y/n L/N,” Sheriff Kakashi Hatake stood before her. He was the new silver haired sheriff who cryptically showed up 2 months ago, and according to Tenten, quite popular with the ladies. “Could I talk to you in my office?” He appeared quite aloof for someone in the midst a murder case, y/n thought.

The girl tottered after him, itchy blanket still tightly wrapped around her. Once they reached the office the sheriff plopped down in his plush chair and motioned for her to take a seat. y/n curled up in an uncomfortable plastic chair that reeked of old coffee. How he was popular with the milfs and teen girls of the town bamboozled y/n; the sheriff's face was completely covered, except his uncovered black eye which was looking her up and down. Self-conscious under his intense gaze, her hands began to tenderly flatten her hair which was still a knotted mess, with dried blood clumping it together. “You look like shit.” He whistled, directly voicing her concerns.

“Thanks.” y/n dryly retorted back, clearly not in the mood to placate witty comments. She couldn’t bring herself to meet his single black eye, instead fiercely staring at the mask covering his face. The sheriff looked carefully into her eyes, some hidden emotion within his; amusement?

“You’ve had quite a night y/n, although you’d be relieved to know that we’ve identified the body in the woods and discovered the cause of death,” Well that was quick. “ A wild animal, possibly a wolf or bear mauled…” 

y/n immediately tuned out of the meaningless words falling out of his covered mouth. Wild animal? “Bullshit!” she snapped, hastily standing up to tower over him, the amusement still lingered in his eyes. 

“Excuse m-”

“I said,” y/n hissed, suddenly feeling quite bold. “Bullshit. There was a weapon lodged in her chest! And-and there was a killer, I saw hi-”

“Miss L/N there was no weapon in the body.” The sheriff interrupted, eye(s?) narrowed and tone firm. The atmosphere shifted to an uncomfortable tenseness. A large hand grasped her shoulder, squeezing it lightly. A small voice in the back of her was telling her to shut up as the amusement in the sheriff's eyes disappeared. The subconscious warning was neglected and y/n opened her mouth, but before she could talk she was swiftly interrupted again. “You’ve experienced a traumatic event, it's very common to hallucinate things during them, especially if injuries are involved.” He indicated to her bloodied clothing.

“I know what I saw, and I wasn’t injured!” An absolute lie, she received a head injury that she hasn’t had treated ~~she should really get it checked out actually~~ , but he didn’t need to know that. “Please can you just double check, please!” her tone was all but begging. Bile threatened to crawl up her throat as images of sickly white flesh and glassy sky eyes flashed in her head.

“We’re almost certain but the coroner's report is being published tomorrow so you’ll officially know then.” Sheriff Kakashi drawled, his dismissive and bored tone irritated y/n deeply. He didn’t even let her get another word in before ushering her out of his office. “Go home Miss L/n.”

“Asshole.” y/n muttered as the door slammed in her face. She pulled a deep breath in to ease her rising temper, the stale smell of the station didn’t help to alleviate her frustration (if anything it made it worse); she needed to leave. 

A blanketed figure shoved past the police officers, head fixed to the ground. It had been such a long night and tiredness was settling in, it was torture to be awake any longer. All she wanted to do was see her grandmother and Tenten. Her fatigued muscles strained as she pushed open the heavy doors of the station. 

Her legs planted firmly in the concrete and she scrunched her eyes closed, taking a deep breath in through her nose and relishing in the fresh air filling up her lungs. The Woman in Baby blue, y/n didn’t even know the dead woman's name. Actually that's not true. One of the officers told y/n his name while he was offering her a coffee, she just didn’t listen. It was easier to not know her name. It dulled the burning guilt in her chest. Y/n tried not to think of what would have happened if her grandmother had called her just a bit earlier, maybe she could have saved the woman from her bloody fate or maybe it would have been y/n ripped to shreds. Despite the guilt and sadness, a small part of herself was glad it was the woman and not her mangled in the woods.

“Hey!” y/n opened her eyes to see Naruto running up to her, the same dumb gleeful grin on his face. Had he been waiting there the entire time? He scooped her tired frame up in a bear hug, y/n stared at the bloody handprints staining his orange tracksuit as she was pressed against the nylon material.

“Woah there.” y/n lightly chided as she squirmed out of the hug. As grateful as she felt for narutos help, he was still just a stranger invading her personal space. Her shoes clacked against the concrete walk path as she took a couple steps back, stopping only when the garden soil swallowed her feet, and the brick wall of the station poked at her back. Satisfied at the distance between them she offered him a soft smile. “Hey.” 

“Hey!” He repeated and smiled back with a toothy grin, fondness bubbled warmly inside y/n, but immediately sizzled out as soon as he opened his mouth to start talking, destroying any hopes she had of quietly going home and sleeping immediately. 

“Yeesh, that was scary. Thanks for helping me back there,” He commented, striding closer to her and inadvertently blocking her path home. Naruto's face contorted as he looked like he just remembered something, “By the way, I never got to ask your nam-”

“Y/N!” a voice screeched. Both y/n and Naruto whipped around, confusion painted on their faces. A blur slammed into y/n tackling her to the ground. For the third time in two days y/n collided with the ground, a faceful of dirt smashed into her mouth.

“I was so worried about you, I thought you were the girl they found in the woods, dumbass!” Tenten sobbed, clutching y/n with a biting grip as y/n dry heaved the dirt lodged in her mouth.

“Y/n..” Naruto mumbled, testing the way the name sounded in his mouth. The girl in question had shoved Tenten off of her and was now roughly petting her head in reassurance, obviously distressed by Tenten's crying.

“Hey, what the hell happened to my hoodie!” Tenten snapped catching sight of the pink article of clothing she had allowed y/n to borrow. y/n sheepishly looked down at the cotton hoodie tied around her waist, deep gashes mangled its blood and dirt soaked fabric. At least the drink stain she had covered with the hoodie was unnoticeable now. With careful hands y/n gently peeled the material from her body, cringing at the grimy texture of it, before holding it out to the very pissed looking Tenten.

“You can keep it.” Tenten grumbled before a sincere look washed over her reddened face. “y/n, are you ok.”

No. She wasn’t. “Yeah, I'm fine.” y/n chimed, weaving artificial inflections in her voice to sound upbeat. Tenten and Naruto both stared at her with a sceptical look; they could tell she was full of shit. Too much had happened tonight, y/n just couldn’t deal with a concerned stranger and Tenten. “I just want to go home. Goodnight.” The words bluntly stumbled out of her mouth, her body quickly whipped around to leave, too quickly, as a dull pain bloomed in her head making her wince. The girl sunk her teeth into her cheek, holding back the tears threatening to pool in her eyes.

She began down the concrete walkway, leaving Tenten and Naruto alone. Leave them alone...with the killer still around...and the police not even searching for it. Her body twisted abruptly around (ouch, her head) to face the other girl who was still crouched in the garden. “Tenten do you want to sleep over at my house,” Tenten gave her an odd look, confused by the sudden change in y/ns mood and the random and panicked request. Hesitantly the brunette gave a nod. “Sure, I’ll just text my-”

“Great,” Y/n interrupted, not hearing anything after the ‘sure’. “Naruto we’ll walk you home.”

* * *

The steam of the shower soothed her aching muscles, tired eyes watched as the warm water danced down her figure, mixing with the bits of the dirt and patches of crimson adhered to her but failing to remove the grime completely. Brows softly furrowed, unsatisfied by the lingering blood. A plastic bottle of rose scented body wash was her weapon of choice. The cap was opened with a pop and drenched onto the lilac loofah, forming blush coloured bubbles.

As the young woman started scrubbing at her limbs in circular motions she finally for the first time tonight let her mind start to wander. The sheriff's words kept echoing in her mind. y/n shook her head in frustration, she refused to believe the case would just be dismissed as an animal attack, surely the coroner's report would prove she was right. Perhaps she was placing too much blind faith in the local small town justice system but she just couldn’t stomach the idea of a killer being on the loose.

“Shit.” She hissed, breaking her from her thoughts, She’d had roughly buffed over a gash on her knee, the pink bubbles stung the open gash. The new sheriff sucked, y/n decided while washing the suds off of her, with his smug and lazy attitude, and his lack of empathy (or face). 

y/n glanced down at her body, placing the loofah to the side. The blood and grit was successfully cleaned away, leaving her feeling delightfully stark. The feeling of nausea that had been lingering finally left. 

Just thinking about the killer emitted violent shivers down her spine. He or it, whatever, had to have been from the circus. The circus was going to stay for a month, plenty of time for more people to be picked off. It also explains the fancy looking weapon and impressive abilities; the killer must have used the same tricks like the paper lady or Naruto did. She’ll need to ask Naruto how he performs those illusions...

“Get out of the shower and stop talking to yourself!” y/ns grandmother yelled from the other side of the timber bathroom door, banging her fists against it to empathise her point and scaring the shit out of y/n. 

“Grumpy bitch.” y/n muttered light heartedly under her breath as she stepped out of the shower. Fingers grazed over the back of her head and felt the cotton gauze her grandmother had wrapped around her throbbing head. Her grandmother, who used to be a nurse, had assured y/n that she didn’t have a concussion, proving that y/n hadn’t experienced hallucinations. And that she was right, which always brightened her mood.

Once the coroner report comes out tomorrow the dumbfuck sheriff will realise his mistake and the police force will solve the case, y/n was sure of it. With a heart full of misplaced faith, dear naïve y/n snuggled in to slumber, Certain the horror of tonight was over **_~~not knowing it had just begun~~_**.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy new year !! also i feel like this chap feels rushed srry


End file.
